The National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Advocate Shamila Batohi, has called on communities to work with law enforcement agencies to fight gender-based violence (GBV).
The NDPP was speaking during the re-launch of the Kabokweni Themba Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) at the Themba Hospital in Mpumalanga.
TCCs are a one stop-facility for survivors of GBV, where they are able to receive psycho-social support, medical treatment and legal services.
“You have to be part of the crime solution. We will never be able to prosecute ourselves out of crime.
“We do what we have to do and we will do it with absolute determination and passion but we come after the fact when the crime is already committed. You in the community, working with the police, have to be part of [the solution],” Batohi said.
The TCC was initially launched in 2008 but has now found a permanent home within the hospital’s structure. It services communities including Kabokweni and White River.
Addressing men in society in particular, Batohi urged them to stand up to those in their circles who perpetrate GBV.
“Men must be out there publicly… to raise awareness and say as men, ‘no women must be [abused]. As men, we will not tolerate [that] and… we will ostracise them from our groups because there is no place for abusers in our midst.
“That’s the only way we can move, otherwise we will be sitting in these places, building Thuthuzela Care Centres and we will never solve the problem,” Batohi said.
The NDPP told the gathering that the TTCs are aimed at making sure that there is justice for victims and survivors of GBV.
“We want to make sure that we get better conviction rates. We want to make sure that we get less secondary trauma, and this must move to the courts as well. And we’re hoping that with our partners… that maybe the TCCs can be used [for] children and victims [to] actually testify from here to the courts. Our Department of Justice will be a key partner in that.
“We have to have targeted interventions that make sure that our women and children are not violated in this way and our girls are not subjected to abuse. This is an incredible [opportunity] to show from the reactive side, that this is what we’re trying to do, to make this journey of victim to survivor something that is more comfortable,” Batohi explained. – SAnews.gov.za
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